This invention relates to a process for stabilizing methyleneimine compounds including a cyclohexyl methyleneimine compound as an essential component and to a stabilized methyleneimine composition.
Methyleneimine compounds are compounds having a methylene group at the tertiary nitrogen and can readily undergo polymerization reaction in the presence of a very small amount of atmospheric moisture to produce polymers. Owing to this property, they can be used as a new type of instantaneous adhesive, or as raw materials for other chemicals. The polymers of methyleneimine compounds can be used in various applications, for example, as a catalyst for various urethane foams, a curing agent and a curing promoter for epoxy resin, a paint stabilizer, a curing agent and a vulcanization promoter for rubber latex, an electrode-protecting agent, a rust-proof agent, an electroconductive polymer obtained by quaternarizing the tertiary nitrogen in the polymer, an ion exchange resin, a polymeric coagulant, etc., and furthermore can be used as raw materials for synthesis of other chemicals by virtue of the reactivity of the tertiary amino group.
On the other hand, it is very difficult to preserve them stably for a long time owing to their reactivities, and no process for preserving them stably for a long time has been so far known.
As a result of extensive studies, the present inventors have unexpectedly found that a cyclohyxylmethyleneimine compound can be stabilized by the presence of an organic lithium compound, and other methyleneimine compounds alone are not stabilized by the presence of the organic lithium compound, but when they contain the cyclohexylmethyleneimine compound, they can be stabilized by the presence of the organic lithium compound, and have established the present invention.